CHALLENGE TOUR GRAND FINAL:AS TOURNAMENTS go, the Challenge Tour's Grand Final has one of the toughest entry criteria: only the top-45 players on the European Tour's secondary circuit are eligible, and this week's event at Puglia in Italy, starting tomorrow, presents career-defining opportunities to 20 of them who will be rewarded with full tour cards for next season.
For Gareth Maybin, with a tour card already guaranteed, there is the extra incentive of attempting to overhaul money leader David Horsey. The Ulsterman is fourth on the Challenge Tour money list, but trails the English player by just €10,974.
Michael Hoey, though, has pressure of a different kind. The Belfastman is 28th on the money list and needs to break into the top-20 after the Grand Final if he is to secure a full card for next season.
And Derry's Michael McGeady, 40th on the money list, would need to win if he is to leapfrog up the rankings.
As if to emphasise the broad spectrum of opportunities for professional golfers, three Irish players - John Kelly of St Margaret's, Eamonn Brady of Clontarf and former Ryder Cup player Philip Walton - will contest today's PGA play-offs at Royal Liverpool where, for once, the monetary prize is outweighed by the fringe benefits.
Confined to the top-21 players off the PGA regional orders of merits in Britain and Ireland, the winner of the 36-hole competition at Hoylake today and tomorrow will earn invitations into next year's English Open, Wales Open, Scottish Open and European Open.
Kelly, who has already secured his place in BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth after topping the Irish Order of Merit, had nine top-five finishes during an impressive season that included victories in the Irish Club Pro Tournament, PGA Southern Professional Championship and the Tullamore Pro-Am.
The 37-year-old Dubliner will be making his first appearance in the tournament, as will former tour player Walton, while Brady is making his second appearance after earning a late call-up after Irish Region Order of Merit runner-up Robert Giles and fourth-placed Simon Thornton didn't enter due to a clash of commitments.
